‘We Should Stop Suffering’: Doctor Convicted For Illegal Euthanasia Starting Discussion Through One-Man Valletta Show
I will Celebrate my Death – a one-person-show performed by Marcos Hourmann, the first doctor to be sentenced in Spain for euthanising an 82-year-old patient, upon request from her and her family – is showing in Valletta over the next two evenings.
“I don’t like even one single second of suffering if it’s unnecessary,” Marcos said to Lovin Malta, explaining the logic behind his tale’s most fateful decision.
“Not only at the end of your life. Every single day, we suffer unnecessarily for everything. We are suffering for the job, for the money, for the relationship. And we should stop suffering. I don’t want to suffer anymore.”
“In my job, when someone requests something so important, to end their endless suffering, I’ll help this person. And I did.”
Marcos has been a practicing doctor for most of his life. On March 28th 2005, when he was approached by a patient and her daughter, he chose to support and respect their choice – despite the legal ramifications.
For this, he would later be charged by a Spanish court for having committed the crime of euthanasia. In order to avoid a 10-year prison sentence, he made the understandable decision of pleading guilty and making a deal.
He understood that by the letter of the law, he was guilty, but this decision deprived him of judgment by jury – and an opportunity to engage people with a thought so many shun as taboo.
“Death is a universal issue. People don’t want to talk about death. But it is the unique real thing that binds us.”
The subject matter is one which causes many to shy away from as heavy, but hearing Marcos speak is truly life-affirming.
“People leave the theatre thinking, talking, smiling,” he said.
“They leave with a message: live your life as much as you can, love your life. Live well, die well. People leave here smiling and loving life more than when they came. This is the point.”
The conception of Celebraré Mi Muerté was one motivated by the idea that he would face this judgment, in a discussion between himself, and audience members following his narrative.
“In the theatrical scene, I like to give people an opportunity to act as a jury, because I haven’t had it in real life.”
“The most important thing is the colloquio, the discussion that happens afterward.”
Marcos has performed this show a total of 182 times. Most of these were in Spain, and just one was in Buenos Aires, the capital city of his native Argentina. He was surprised by the reception he faced there.
“Argentinian culture is not very open-minded, which surprised me. I thought Buenos Aires was open-minded, and… nothing. My image was that we are intellectual people with a lot of culture, in the discussion after the show, doctors showed up and argued with me.”
“In Spain, very few doctors showed up. They didn’t come. Euthanasia is still taboo, doctors don’t know what they need to do, and there’s a long long way to go for this discussion.”
Today, for the first time, he will give this performance in English.
“My wife asked me, ‘are you crazy, to do it in English? Are you crazy, to suffer in this way?’” Marcos joked.
Not only will Marcos be performing in a less familiar language, for a Maltese audience, but he’ll also be doing so in a cultural environment for which he was not prepared when he arrived just two nights ago.
“The idiosyncrasies, the culture… it’s amazing here in Malta. Yesterday I was in shock, it’s a very different country, this one. It looks like Greece, Italy, and Sicily, but full of Arabian people, I still don’t understand where I am.”
Marcos is no stranger to varied reactions to his show.
“In Spain, different towns and cities had absolutely different feelings. Every single day I’ve done it has been different. After three minutes, I know which type of people they are. I know from their reactions, humans are different, bound by one thing.”
It is impossible to predict what sort of reception this show will face, and even more difficult to imagine what the ensuing colloquia will entail, but Marcos has one tip for those in attendance, one which reveals more than anything else.
“I learned to listen to the silence in the room.”
The show will be performed in one of Valletta’s incomparable Spazju Kreattiv theatres.
Anyone interested in immersing themselves in the intensity of a life-affirming, thought-provoking, and deeply unique performance – followed by a discussion that is sure to be memorable, and kickstart discussions about euthanasia in Malta – can get their tickets here.
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